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Captain Judd Ryder watches the news with his son, Wyatt. His eyes are wide. He decided to watch a more global news and there's a story about the 118 out of Los Angeles. He remembers when some of their crew came down to San Angelo for the wildfire. Evan Buckley had hit it off with his buddy, TK Strand, and he himself hit it off well with Eddie Diaz.
There was an explosion at some science and there was no survivors. Buckley was lucky enough to make it out before the blast. Judd can understand the devastation of a loss that severe really damn well. Losing your entire team?
"Holy fuck," Judd murmurs as he stares at the screen as LA news reporter Felicity Knox speaks on the television.
**************
Eddie Diaz walks into his house in El Paso and he finds Christopher watching TV with Eddie's mom, Helena. Chris is sobbing.
"What happened?" Eddie asks. "Mijo..." He kneels before his son.
"The 118's dead," Chris wails.
"There was an explosion in a science lab on a call the 118 was on up in Los Angeles," Helena says. "It happened a couple days ago. There was one survivor."
Eddie's eyes pool with tears. Those people were his family. He left them for Chris, his life... "Did the news people get the name of the survivor?"
"Evan Buckley," Helena says. "But the others... Captain Nash, the paramedics, that Ravi guy... All dead."
Eddie gasps and he stands. He whips his phone out and he goes onto his porch. He calls Buck but he gets no answer, so he calls Maddie.
"Hey, Eddie, did you hear?" Maddie asks. She knows that the explosion and the deaths were released to the news, but not the reasoning behind the explosion and how they actually died.
"My mom and Chris saw it on the news," Eddie says. "Is he okay?" Buck just lost everyone in the firehouse. Eddie left and then the team... They died.
"No," Maddie replies. She rubs her pregnant stomach. "Neither am I, but I have to hold it together for Jee and for the unborn baby. The funerals are next Friday."
"I'll be there," Eddie says firmly.
"I expect no less," Maddie replies and she hears Jee crying for Chimney. "I have to go, Eddie. It was good to hear from you." She hangs up.
Eddie leans against the house and the tears fall.
***********
TK enters Judd's office back in Austin after seeing that they're offline. "Why are we offline?"
"We're going to LA," Judd says. "Remember Buckley?"
"Buck, yeah," TK replies. "Why?" He hasn't watched the news. He and Carlos haven't had the time now that they have Jonah and all they can watch is cartoons and they're usually too exhausted for the News and anything else by the time Jonah is asleep.
"His entire team died in an explosion," Judd says and TK's eyes widen. "According to his interview on the News, he had just gotten out with a woman before the explosion happened. He could use our support right now."
"Of course," TK says. "I'll let Carlos know... We have Jonah now."
"Tell him that Wyatt said he'd help watch Jonah, as well as Tommy's girls," Judd says.
TK nods before he steps out to FaceTime his husband, Carlos Reyes.
***********
Evan Buckley sits in his new house, which used to be Eddie's, a couple days later. He is staring into space. He might still be in shock. They're all dead. Bobby, Hen, Ravi, Chimney... All because the military was slow as hell and wouldn't let him go in and get them out.
Buck turns his head when someone knocks. He doesn't get up, but then the knocking happens again, just harder. He hesitates before getting up. Buck slowly shuffles across the floors and when he opens it, he's being wrapped in a hug. The cologne is unfamiliar, so he pulls away.
"TK?"
"Judd saw it on the News," TK says and he enters the house; Judd Ryder and Mateo Chavez follow. He remembers meeting Judd and Mateo in San Angelo.
"I know the pain of a loss that big," Judd says. "The 126 before Captain Strand was there, they all died in a real bad fire, everyone but me. It's... awful. Numbing."
"Yeah," Buck mutters in agreement. "I think I'm in shock. It hasn't sunk in yet that they're all..." He trails off as it does sink in and his eyes fill with moisture and his bottom lip trembles. "Gone," he whispers, his voice cracking.
Judd moves this time and he pulls Buck into a tight hug, sort of like a weighted blanket. Buck basically melts into the hug because it reminds him of Bobby's hugs. That reminder makes Buck cry even harder. TK and Mateo force back their tears and they see Eddie walk up to the door with a teenager.
"Buck?"
Buck wipes his face as he pulls away from Judd. He sees Chris and his heart picks up. He drops to his knees and Chris throws himself into Buck's arms. Judd greets Eddie with a handshake. The man looks just as rough as Buck, like he had to pull over a few times to cry. Christopher looks no happier.
"I can't believe this happened," Eddie says softly as Buck and Chris hold one another.
"It'll be tough for a while," Judd says. "I came to offer Buckley a spot on the 126 in Austin."
Buck turns to look at Judd at that. "What?"
"You can say no, it's just an offer," Judd says. "We can talk more after the funerals on Friday."
"I'll think about it," Buck says. "Chris, your room is untouched."
"Good." Chris walks away once he takes his crutches from Eddie.
Eddie approaches Buck and he yanks him into a tight hug. His familiar cologne helps Buck relax a little and he melts into Eddie. The Texan's heart breaks more at Buck's shaky sniffle.
"We're going to our hotel," Judd says to Eddie. "We'll be in town for a bit. I took the 126 offline for a while."
Eddie nods and the three firefighters from Austin, Texas leave the house. Eddie keeps his hold on Buck and he holds him close.
**********
In the end, Buck does accept Judd's job offer. About two months after the funerals, Buck moves to Texas with Maddie and Jee-Yun. Maddie gets a job at the Dispatch Center in Austin. Eddie and Chris ended up moving to Austin, too, and Eddie and Buck confessed their feelings for one another, and Maddie named her son Howard Daniel Buckley-Han.
It took three years for Maddie to move on... She wound up marrying Judd because he and Grace divorced a couple months before Judd got promoted to Captain after Owen officially retired and returned to New York. Maddie had her third child with Judd, another daughter who she named Bobbie Jayne Ryder, after Bobby. Buck and Eddie got two surrogates - Anne and Bella -, one carried each one's sperm. Anne, who carried Eddie's sperm, gave birth to a boy, Chris's baby brother, and his name is Ravi James Buckley-Diaz. Bella, who carried Buck's 'super sperm', gave birth to twin girls, Apahlia Rose and Octavia Henrietta Buckley-Diaz.
Their life carries on in Texas, but they never forget about their lives in Los Angeles, California.